In ND, “Mailman’s Best Friend” – Paw Stickers On Mailbox

At first glance - at the cover picture of this story - what would your first guess that indicates?

When I saw this for the first time, I just assumed that maybe the owners of the house put that sticker on their mailbox as a courtesy to the postal carrier - that seems very obvious to me, right? I mean we have all heard the famous motto of the mail carriers  "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."  ...well show me where it SHOULD say "We also deliver through the dangers of 4-legged barking animals with sharp teeth"

This is nothing new, but you may have not seen this before

My assumption was correct by the way, of course, the paw stickers you may run across on mailboxes around town came from a great idea from the USPS - they tried this out in a few select cities around the country back in 2021 - there was an increase of dog bites involving the mail carriers, and according to the Inforum "At area Fargo post offices, people can find paw print stickers on mailboxes throughout the metro area. A yellow sticker means a dog is at the next house on the mail carriers route. An orange sticker means a dog lives in that house"

Dog attacks are a very real, dangerous part of the job

This is a fact: "In 2022, dogs attacked more than 5,300 employees who were delivering the mail, according to the U.S. Postal Service. It was a slight drop from the previous year, when more than 5,400 postal employees were attacked" according to npr.org. - Well here is another expression for you - "Give a dog a bone", AND treat your area postal carriers with respect -  they always do their best to deliver your mail as quickly as possible.